News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
Text & Photographs by BARBARA WYETH My dear Aunt Fordy, who lived her life in Iowa, loved the fall, especially October. I happen to agree. It’s the best month of the year. She always called it “lovely blue October,” never just plain October. And there is a special color in the sky during the autumn…
FIRST PERSON | DICK EVANS On the front cover of my new documentary photography book, The Mission, a young Latino mother and her daughter are pictured walking in front of a striking black and white mural of Carlos Santana. Santana — born in Jalisco, Mexico, but raised in the city’s Mission District — also has a strong connection…
By JAYA PADMANABHAN When 27-year-old Luis Quiroz heard the news that DACA — the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration program — was being rescinded, it was as though something he’d worked for all his life had been stripped away. “I felt completely defeated,” he said. Quiroz was born in the Mexican state of Guerrero…
FILM | DAVID THOMSON People call it “the Kabuki” still, as if clutching at something and hoping it will stay there. It is, or has been, our neighborhood movie theater, with a front onto Post Street, a parking garage, an alleged restaurant — and a certain dejected character. I’m being as generous as possible because I…
By CHRIS BARNETT A surge in daring grab-and-run thefts is plaguing Fillmore Street merchants. Salespeople at upscale fashion boutiques on upper Fillmore say shoplifting has now morphed into blatant thievery and that some fear for their personal safety. Merchants report numerous instances — more than half a dozen in August alone — in which people case…
By FRANCINE BREVETTI February’s raucous rains may have limited the ingredients you’ve tossed into your summer salad bowl. The Fillmore Farmers Market is still trying to recoup the fruit and vegetable vendors it lost because of the rising waters on farmland this past winter. To help lead the resurgence, Grant Ike has been named as the…
FIRST PERSON | BARBARA WYETH The flower business is an early morning affair. My morning usually starts with an espresso at Jackson and Fillmore, then a short hop past Alta Plaza Park to work at Bloomers at 2975 Washington Street. Opening the door, I’m met with the fragrance of fresh flowers and the aroma of…
By CHARLES FRACCHIA He was born and grew up in public housing on Potrero Hill. When his parents could no longer take care of him and his brother, he was sent to a Catholic orphanage in Eureka. After a stint as a seminarian he attended St. Ignatius High School, where his Jesuit teachers noticed he could…
Story & Photograph by FRANK WING Sanko Kitchen Essentials, the anchor shop at the northeast end of Japantown’s Buchanan Street Mall, is sporting a new look these days. For more than 35 years, it has been the go-to purveyor of hard to find Japanese cookware, unique bento boxes, exotic children’s lunch pails and enough teacups…
CULTURE BEAT | PAMELA FEINSILBER Nick Platoff moved here a year ago to join the San Francisco Symphony’s acclaimed brass section, in which he is associate principal trombonist. Only 25, he helps kick off the fall arts season this month, performing in the symphony’s opening night gala on September 14, followed from September 22 to…